Month: January 2014
News/Politics 1-28-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Here we go again. 🙄
From TheHill “The White House said Monday that President Obama would not pay “an ideological ransom” in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.
“The American people cannot — and the president will not on their behalf — pay an ideological ransom just so that Congress will do its job and pay the bills that Congress has racked up,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “It’s just irresponsible.”
The comments came after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested over the weekend that the GOP wanted to “attach something significant for the country” — like the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline — to a debt limit increase.
“Any president’s request to raise the debt ceiling, whether this one or previous presidents, is a good opportunity to try to do something about the debt. I think the president is taking an unreasonable position to suggest that we ought to treat his request to raise the debt ceiling like some kind of motherhood resolution that everybody says ‘aye,’ and we don’t do anything, when we have the stagnant economy and this massive debt created under his administration,” McConnell told Fox News.”
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2. The first lady is bringing a gay NBA player to the S. of the U. speech tonight as one of her guests. I guess to make a statement. Some have decided to use the invite to make a statement of their own as well.
From TheWashingtonTimes “The father of one of the men who died in the terrorist attack in Benghazi will attend Tuesday’s State of the Union address, escalating the battle of the guests that takes place every year.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine’s invitation to Charles Woods, father of former Navy SEAL and Benghazi terrorist attack victim Tyrone Woods, is the latest evidence that the real politics of the major speech happens well above the president’s head, in the public viewing galleries.”
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3. One of the themes you’ll hear tonight will be the new buzz words “income inequality.” And as is usually the case, it’s someone with a lot of money doing the complaining about it. (Funny though, it’s always our money they want to use to “fix” it, not theirs.)
Tonight the president will cheerlead his new meme, and filthy rich Democrats will follow suit, and the press will run with it, just like always. And as always, they miss their own hypocrisy. They completely miss that they’re the “evil” rich they rail about.
This lady is a perfect example, just like the president. She rails against CEO’s and their outrageous pay, yet fails to mention her husband George Lucas is worth 7.3 billion. She’s a real spokesperson for the little people. Funny though, she didn’t mention how much of their money she’ll be giving to help offset this inequality. Weird right? 🙄
From NewsBusters “CBS analyst Mellody Hobson, whose husband George Lucas is worth $7.3 billion, appeared on This Morning to slam excessive salaries for corporate bosses. Discussing income inequality and Barack Obama’s planned discussion at the State of the Union, Hobson lashed out, “If you look today, the typical CEO makes 354 times more than the typical worker in his or her company, mostly his because there are so few women running companies.” (How much more does the male Lucas make than the average worker?)
She continued, “If you look back to 1980, that difference was just 42 times. So it’s been that kind of income inequality that has started a lot of backlash and chatter…” Co-host Norah O’Donnell introduced the segment by highlighting a hyperbolic letter to the Wall Street Journal by CEO Tom Perkins comparing the treatment of the wealthy to Jews during the Holocaust. O’Donnell promoted, “[President Obama] calls [income inequality] one of the defining challenges of our time. How do you think that will be received by people in the business community?”
“Hobson cheered Obama’s efforts: “Well, one, I’ve heard the President directly speak on these issues. I heard him right before Thanksgiving firsthand talk about this issue of the middle class…. Additionally what I would call it is positive populism.”
I‘d call it class warfare.
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4. The NY Times public editor is calling out the Times for it’s lack of coverage of the March for Life.
From LifeNews “Kudos to New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan for asking why the Times couldn’t provide much coverage of Wednesday’s March for Life. Hundreds, if not thousands of New Yorkers were there, so “Was this local participation, or the event itself, worthy of a news story in the paper of record? Apparently not.”
“The Times, in print, published only a stand-alone photograph of the event on Page A17 with a two-line caption on Thursday.” Sullivan reproduced complaints from pro-life readers:”
“Another reader made the point that The Times’s political agenda was on display, not only in the lack of coverage of the event but also in what it did choose to give a major amount of space to in the same day’s paper: a front-page article about a Catholic school in suburban Seattle where students are protesting the firing of a school official who was let go after he married his male partner.
Francis H. Hoffman wrote: “A handful of young people from Seattle who support their fired vice principal merits big coverage, but a massive pro-life march in a winter storm is all but ignored. And the motto of the New York Times is, “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” I guess pro-life news is not fit to print.”
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5. This one is sad, and he deserves it. Yet at the same time I don’t understand why it’s OK for a woman to do it either without the father’s permission. Both are parents of the child after all. It seems a little contradictory. And the plea was for other charges. They didn’t address the major issues, like whether the defense’s claim that Roe v. Wade protected him as well was valid, since he was the father.
From LifeSiteNews “The man who tricked his ex-girlfriend into taking an abortion-inducing drug has been sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison.
John Andrew Welden received the full negotiated sentence of 13 years and eight months in a hearing at 1:30 this afternoon.
“I don’t think Mr. Welden is an evil person, but he committed an evil act and for that he’s going to have to pay the consequences,” said U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara as he imposed the full sentence.
Welden signed a plea bargain in September to avoid life in prison for violating the 2004 Unborn Victims of Violence Act. But Lazzara, a 1997 Clinton appointee, nearly let Welden escape with only 41 months in prison.”
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6. The more we know, the worse it gets. I’m sure the administration is in no hurry to rectify this. And they don’t dare cave and let Republicans re-write any of it.
From WatchDog.org “Insurance companies working under the Obamacare umbrella have secretly added a surcharge to cover the cost of abortions, an apparent violation of federal law that forbids the practice, congressional leaders charge.
Consumers signing up for insurance in an Obamacare exchange won’t find a single sentence telling them that they will pay at least $1 a month to fund abortions.
“The president promised when the health care bill passed that it would not cover abortion. We knew that was an empty promise as the bill stipulated a $1 a month surcharge for plans that covered abortions,” said Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who chairs the House’s Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health. “On top of that … it’s near impossible to decipher which plans include abortion and at what cost!”
To fix this, a House bill will be introduced this week to demand full disclosure and a separate itemized premium. It also will prohibit federal subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans that cover abortion. That bill, HR-7, or the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” will be introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.”
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Our Daily Thread 1-27-14
Good Morning!
On this day in 1606 the trial of Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators began. They were executed on January 31.
In 1880 Thomas Edison patented the electric incandescent lamp.
In 1888 the National Geographic Society was founded in Washington, DC.
In 1926 John Baird, a Scottish inventor, demonstrated a pictorial transmission machine called television.
In 1945 Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.
In 1951 in the U.S., atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flats.
And in 1973 the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.
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Quote of the Day
“It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion.”
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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We’ll start off with some Mozart today. From Dagmar Dolatschko
Next up, Jack Brymer, who also has a birthday today, playing more Mozart. From UltimateMozart
And it’s also Skitch Henderson’s. From MusicProf78
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 1-27-14
Who would like to share a request or praise today?
Psalm 7
¹O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O Lord my God, If I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.
8 The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.
10 My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart.
11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.
News/Politics 1-27-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
1. Pres. Obama says income inequality is holding kids back. A new Harvard study says it’s something else.
From TheWashingtonExaminer “A new study from Harvard University on the ability of low-income children to achieve social mobility found that the largest hindrance to moving up the income ladder is being raised by a single parent. “The strongest and most robust predictor [of social mobility] is the fraction of children with single parents,” the study said.
Further, the study found that “[children] of married parents also have higher rates of upward mobility if they live in communities with fewer single parents.”
Now, obviously there are cases of successful children who were raised by single parents, but the study suggests that it is more likely for a child to climb the income ladder if they are living with both parents in a community of married parents.
The study found the prevalence of single parents to be a much larger factor in determining social mobility than income inequality — something President Obama and Democrats speak of ad nauseum.”
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2. The Obama admin loves to reward failure.
From TheBlaze “Charlene Lamb, cited for failures in leadership from the Department of State’s own Accountability Review Board report, has been promoted to Regional Security Officer. We’ve heard rumor that she’s slated for international duty in Canada. She started the security officer training last week, much to the dismay of many within the State Department.
For those not keeping track, Charlene Lamb was in charge of the office that denied extra security personnel to the U.S. Ambassador in Libya before the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks.”
“This is a gift, State (State Department) is going out of its way to take care of her. They initially wanted to send her to the Hauge but the rumor was out and they thought better because she would have lived in a castle. In addition RSO (Regional Security Officer) Hague is a sensitive position with NATO etc, and our allies would not have approved.”
Just like with the IRS, and Fast and Furious, she gets rewarded for keeping her mouth shut.
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3. Speaking of Fast and Furious……
They just never learn.
From OregonLive “The 25-year-old meth addict stepped into Squid’s Smoke Shop toting a wadded sweatshirt concealing a pistol.
She was intent on trading with “Squid,” the long-haired man behind the Gresham smoke shop’s counter, or his crew. They paid her $520 in cash and two cartons of Marlboros for the Makarov semi-automatic pistol.
Roughly a month later, in March 2011, she learned Squid was no underworld buyer of guns and drugs. He was a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
He and his team ended their elaborate eight-month undercover sting in March 2011 by arresting 48 people who sold drugs and guns to Squid’s. But now the $150,000 operation — which recovered only 10 stolen guns, none traced to a crime — is itself being investigated for its methods, including targeting mentally impaired individuals.”
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4. Ouch. That’s gotta sting, especially since it’s so obviously true.
From TheNYPost “Mitt Romney thinks Vladimir Putin is better at being president than Barack Obama.
Romney, who lost the presidential race to Obama, told NBC that the Russian leader “outperformed” the president “time and time again on the world stage.”
The former GOP nominee called the US and Russia “geopolitical adversaries,” blamed Putin for giving cover to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and said fugitive leaker Edward Snowden’s asylum in Russia was a “bit of a stick in the eye of America.”
“I think most observers of the international political scene suggest that Russia has elevated itself in stature and America has been diminished,” Romney said.”
I seem to recall Democrats ridiculing Romney for saying Russia should be our biggest concern. Maybe they should have listened because Putin’ been eating Obama’s lunch.
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5. This one bothers me. They seem more concerned with aiding a child molester than they are with his poor victim.
From TheDailyMail “Law enforcement officials in Rochester New York say colleagues of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio were uncooperative during the investigation. LoMaglio, 37, an elementary school gym teacher, was convicted last month of sexually molesting an eight-year-old boy between 2006 and 2007.
Many teachers and administrators who had worked with LoMaglio, who was sentenced last week to four years prison for second degree sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child, refused to speak to investigators.”
“According to EAG News, 22 of LoMaglio’s co-workers wrote to the judge in support of the teacher during the case, some of whom said they would trust him with their own children and others who said they considered him a good role model for kids. “
“‘Some of the people [on the school staff] who were cooperative told us there was talk at school, sort of like ‘Are you for the teacher or for the student,’” Kyle Rossi, the assistant district attorney who tried the case against LoMaglio, told EAGnews. ‘It was very disappointing to make contact with teachers who wouldn’t give us the time of day until they were instructed to.”
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6. An ObamaCare alternative from the GOP? So repeal has now become replace?
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Our Daily Thread 1-25-14
Good Morning!
And Happy Saturday! 🙂
On this day in 1881 Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and others signed an agreement to organize the Oriental Telephone Company.
In 1915, in New York, Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his assistant in San Francisco, inaugurating the first transcontinental telephone service.
In 1924 the 1st Winter Olympic Games were inaugurated in Chamonix in the French Alps.
In 1950 a federal jury in New York City found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.
In 1971 Charles Manson and three female members of his “family” were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit murder and seven counts of murder in the first degree.
In 1981 the 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived in the United States and were reunited with their families.
And in 1987 the New York Giants defeated the Denver Broncos, 39-20, in Super Bowl XXI on NBC. 🙂 WooHoo!
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Quote of the Day
“The snowdrop and primrose our woodlands adorn, and violets bathe in the wet o’ the morn.”
Robert Burns
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On this day in 1858 Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March” was presented for the first time, as the daughter of Queen Victoria married the Crown Prince of Prussia.
It’s Matt Odmark’s birthday. So a Jars of Clay medley. From NoiseTradeVideo
Today is also Richard Finch’s birthday. From WebPortalAvro
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Anyone have a QoD?
Prayer Requests 1-25-14
Anyone have a request or praise to share?
Psalm 6
¹O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed.
3 My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
Rants! and Raves! 1-25-14
It’s Saturday, so you know what that means….
Rants! 😦
and
Raves! 🙂
News/Politics 1-25-14
What’s interesting in the news today?
I’ve been feeling a little under the weather yesterday and today, and I’m behind on the news. So this will be an open thread. Post whatever you’d like.
Our Daily Thread 1-24-14
Good Morning!
On this day in 1848 James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California. The discovery led to the gold rush of ’49.
In 1908, in England, the first Boy Scout troop was organized by Robert Baden-Powell.
In 1922 Christian K. Nelson patented the Eskimo Pie.
In 1952 Vincent Massey was the first Canadian to be appointed governor-general of Canada.
In 1965 Winston Churchill died at the age of 90.
In 1989 Ted Bundy, the confessed serial killer, was put to death in Florida’s electric chair for the 1978 kidnap-murder of 12-year-old Kimberly Leach.
And in 1995 the prosecution gave its opening statement at the O.J. Simpson murder trial.
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Quote of the Day
“Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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Today is the birthday of composer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. From KuhluaDilfeng2, who has a very nice collection of classical music videos.
It’s also Neil Diamond’s. So here he is, with Mr. Cash.
And it’s Ray Stevens’ birthday as well. Here he is with the “Obama Budget Plan.” From RayStevensMusic
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Wandering Views 